Eyes Wide Open
by AcidRain1698
Summary: I didn't fall in love with you. I walked into love with you, with my eyes wide open, choosing to take every step along the way. I do believe in fate and destiny, but I also believe we are only fated to do things we would do anyway. And I'd choose you, in a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality. I'd find you, and I'd choose you. Nalu AU compilation.
1. For Only Him

**Author's Note: hey, guys! I've been wanting to do something like this for a while, and I'm finally getting around to it! Whoot! This will be particularly beneficial to me, because it will give me something else to work on aside from "Ardor," so hopefully my writer's block for that story will just fuck off. Today's also my birthday! I turn nineteen today. Yay to being able to legally drink on my trip to Japan next month! Also, Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate it!**

 **Anyway, "Eyes Wide Open" will be primarily Nalu-centric, but I might add some chapters focused on my other OTPs at some point too. There will be various AUs as well, so feel free to leave suggestions in a review or in a PM! And thanks to the wonderful NilyaKirigaya for being my beta! Love you, boo!**

 **Please enjoy, leave a review, and follow me on Tumblr for updates and previews!**

 **The quote I used for the story's description is from the novel "The Chaos of Stars," written by Kiersten White.**

* * *

 _Being possessive is in a dragon's nature. The thing is, he doesn't have a right to be possessive of her._

* * *

For Only Him

Natsu hated how close they were.

He hated that they shared similar interests, because that meant they often fell into detailed discussions that would last for at least half an hour. _Half an hour_ of them talking to each other, agreeing with each other, sometimes touching each other, or even worse – _laughing_ with each other. Natsu _loathed_ when he made her laugh, usually as just a reserved giggle from behind her hand, but sometimes he would get her to crack up, throwing her head back, trying to stifle it because laughing that hard in public was embarrassing to her. And then he'd tease her about losing her composure, and in response, she'd tell him to shut up and give him a playful shove, still giggling.

Ugh.

Natsu really hated how close they were.

The worst part about Natsu's current situation? He couldn't go anywhere to get away from the nauseating sight in front of him. Team Natsu had taken a job to take down some pesky "mutant moles" that had been wrecking the crops in a small farming town whose name Natsu couldn't recall. They had successfully accomplished their goal a couple days ago, and since the town was rather secluded, the only way to get to it other than hiking was by carriage. Unfortunately, the dragon slayer's belly had been more queasy than normal during the first few minutes of the ride back to the neighboring town – one that had a train station – which caused him to lose his breakfast all over the seats, promptly getting their whole group kicked out.

This forced them to walk the rest of the way, which, depending on how much ground they covered, could take a couple days.

Natsu didn't have a problem with hiking. In fact, he preferred it. What he _did_ have a problem with, however, was Gray.

Sitting there with his stupid droopy eyes, and his disgustingly smug grin, the way he was talking to _his_ partner, making her laugh as he recounted a story from when he was little.

Tch.

The only person that should be able to make Lucy laugh like that was him. He made her laugh harder than anyone, so hard that she cried occasionally. The lovely sound of her amusement should be reserved for him, and him alone.

Natsu realized he wasn't allowed to feel this way. Lucy didn't belong to him. She wasn't his girlfriend. She was his nakama, his best friend, nothing less, and certainly nothing more. He didn't get to be jealous when other men talked to her, got along with her, especially a man like Gray, who had nothing more than a platonic relationship with the blonde stellar mage. He never had any less than pure intentions when it came to Lucy, and Natsu knew that. She was only a teammate in Gray's eyes, the little sister he never had.

But that didn't stop him from wanting to strangle the ice wizard just for sitting too close to her.

Natsu really, _really_ hated how close they were.

Unable to withstand anymore of the emotional torture, the dragon slayer stood up from his seat by the campfire he'd made for the night, grabbed his water jug, announced that he was going to refill it at the river they'd passed a little while ago, and left the camp, barely acknowledging the "okays" from his team. Once he was out of hearing distance, he let loose a long, aggravated sigh, his hand scoring through his hair as he tried to ease his nerves and cool himself down. He had a bad habit of exerting his magic when he was upset, causing his body heat to rise as well as the temperature of the air around him. He needed to simmer down before his teammates noticed something was wrong and tried to talk to him about it.

 _I'd rather not lie to them,_ he groused to himself, kicking an innocent pebble that lay in his path. _Lucy can always tell when I do. I hate that. Makes it impossible to keep secrets from her._

He released another sigh as he reached the river, although this one wasn't as annoyed. It frustrated him that his thoughts always managed to wind their way back to his favorite blonde.

Natsu kneeled beside the river and popped off the cap on his jug, dipping it beneath the surface of the water to let the current fill it. Once it was full, he lifted it to his mouth and took a few gulps before putting the cap back on and plopping onto his butt, setting the jug beside him. He rested his arms atop his knees, letting his chin perch on top of them as he watched the water, the fading sunlight creating mesmerizing sparkles on the ever changing surface. He wasn't ready to head back to the camp yet. He still needed a couple minutes to cool off, and the sound of the flowing river paired with the gentle breeze did well to coax the anger and frustration out of his being.

He allowed a small scoff, giving a roll of his eyes at himself. Pathetic, getting so worked up over nothing. Lucy was just having a friendly chat with Gray, something she was allowed to do with someone who happened to be one of her closest friends. He had no right to get so upset that he needed to excuse himself from the group to keep his temper in check. No right at all.

None.

Besides, she didn't need him to be so possessive of her. She was way out of his league, and he knew this. Hell, everybody did. Even Lucy herself probably knew that she was too good for a guy like Natsu. Even if she said she wasn't, he knew she was just being nice. Several people had pointed out to them directly about Natsu not being good enough for her, and every time she defended him, saying that he was a nice guy, one of the nicest she's ever known, and that people often took him for granted, doubting his intelligence or maturity when he very well wasn't unintelligent or immature. To be fair, he wasn't the smartest or the most sensible, but he deserved some credit, and he appreciated Lucy for giving it to him. He knew her words were true, at least to her, but she was still way too good for him.

Let's be honest.

Natsu sighed, turning his head so his cheek leaned against his forearms. Who was he kidding when he denied his attraction to her? It was so painfully obvious, and he was aware of this. It was obvious to everyone except Lucy, apparently. People keep telling him – namely Happy and Mirajane – that he should just tell her how he feels about her. But what good would come of that? She didn't feel the same way, and telling her that he was in love with her would do nothing but make things awkward between them, and ultimately ruin their friendship.

He tucked his knees closer to his chest, fisting his hands.

He didn't want that to happen.

He couldn't stand the thought of losing her.

As miserable as it was being unable to be with her, Natsu would much rather be in her friendzone than not be her friend at all.

So wrapped up in his thoughts, Natsu didn't hear the approaching footsteps until there was a gentle hand on his shoulder, making him jerk and swerve his head around and up to come face to face with the beautiful stellar mage herself. He blinked his eyes a few times, not expecting to see those big, coffee brown orbs staring into his own with their usual brightness, with a small twinge of concern. She offered him a smile and a greeting before taking a seat next to him.

"Hey," she said kindly, crossing her legs and placing her hands in her lap. "Are you alright?"

"Huh?" the dragon slayer muttered dumbly, still processing her question. He nodded once it sunk in, clearing his throat as he tore his gaze away from hers and faced the river once again. "Yeah, I'm okay. Why?"

He noticed her posture change, albeit minutely, from his peripherals. He didn't have to look to know that her hands were now fidgeting in her lap. "Well, you got up a little suddenly. And you seemed a bit upset. Is something wrong?" Natsu cringed internally, biting back a sigh. _Damn her, being so fucking observant,_ he mentally griped. _I can't stand how easily she can read me._

"I'm fine," he assured her, offering her a small smile and praying she couldn't tell that it was a bit forced. "Really, Luce. Just wanted a couple minutes to myself." Lucy stared at him, a small frown tugging at her lips. Of course she knew the smile was fake. Natsu was an open book – he was god awful at hiding his emotions. It didn't take a psychiatrist to notice his feigned nonchalance.

"Are you sure?" She placed a dainty hand on his shoulder, giving it a soft squeeze. "You know you can talk to me when you're upset, right?"

He allowed a genuine chuckle, nodding his head once. "I know, Luce. But it's nothing. Really."

"It's never just 'nothing,' Natsu," she informed him, her voice going firm but still maintaining her natural tenderness. He refused to look her in the eyes, knowing she hardened her gaze as well. If he looked into those deep brown eyes now, he would get lost and she could reel in anything she wanted to know from him.

 _Damn those expressive eyes._

"Tell me," she pressed, softening her voice. "Please?" Her tone persuaded his gaze to finally turn to hers, and he felt himself weaken at the sight of her beautiful face, so full with concern for him. Her expression made him think, was he _really_ that bad at keeping his bad mood from her? She typically respected Gray's privacy when he's in a pissier mood than usual, as well as Erza, Wendy, Levy, just about the rest of their friends. Why not him? Did he really look so upset that she _just had_ to know what was putting him in such a sour mood?

Deciding to voice his thoughts, he lifted a questioning eyebrow, keeping his gaze locked on hers. "Why d'ya wanna know so bad, huh?" he inquired, almost challenging her to answer.

Lucy maintained their eye contact, although he noticed her gaze soften. "Because I hate seeing you upset. I…" He immediately noticed the blush dusting itself over her cheeks before she finally averted her eyes, looking down at her lap. Her hands fiddled even more, her fingers lacing together and her thumbs twiddling. "I-I want to know why you're upset, so that I can help fix it. Because… because I like it when you're happy. It makes me happy."

His heart gave a small trill. _Really?_ he mused, managing to contain his excitement that was brought on by her comment. _Me being happy makes her happy? Well, at least we feel the same way in that aspect._ Opting to tease her instead of express how much her words moved him, he allowed a playful smirk to crawl onto his face, nudging her with his elbow.

"So you want to cheer me up?" he asked in a sing-song voice, chuckling when her blush deepened a shade. He draped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a light side-hug, his smirk turning into a blinding grin. "Aw, Luce! You're so sweet!"

"Oh, let go of me, you dork," Lucy spat, giving him a small push against the chest, a giggle bubbling up and making his heart skip a beat. He relished every moment he got her to laugh. He lived for the sound.

Ignoring her request, he only pulled her back to his side, his fangs poking his bottom lip as his smile broadened. "You're the dork, you weirdo."

"I am not a dork, nor am I weird," she insisted, giving him another push before relenting, knowing it was useless. The dragon slayer was several times stronger than her, trying to push him back would be all for naught, especially since he didn't seem to want to let go any time soon. So instead, she relaxed into his embrace, leaning into his frame and laying her head on his shoulder.

"I beg to differ," Natsu retorted, trying to ignore the way his face heated up at her actions. He kept his arm hanging limply over her shoulders, not wanting to move in any way that could possibly make her withdraw herself. It wasn't like he was _never_ this close to her, they exchanged hugs all the time. But it was rare for them to cuddle.

 _If you can even call this cuddling,_ Natsu added as an afterthought. He wasn't used to being this close to someone else, so he couldn't tell if "cuddling" was the right term for their embrace. But nevertheless, it was something he could get used to, being this intimate with Lucy, being this close to her. It was pleasant, and warm, and with her being so close, his sensitive nose could easily pick up the smell of her conditioner.

Cherries, with a hint of vanilla.

The scent almost intoxicated him.

"Are you sure you're okay?" her voice spoke up hesitantly, snapping him out of his reverie. Natsu spared a glance at her, staring at the top of her head for a moment before his eyes fell to her hands in her lap, watching them fidget. "If you don't want to talk about whatever's putting you in a bad mood, that's fine. I won't force you. But… I just want to make sure it's not something I should be concerned about. I want you to be able to feel like you can talk to me about anything, you know? Because… you know… you're my best friend. I just–"

"Luce," he mumbled, gently shrugging his shoulder to bump her head, cutting off her rambling. He chuckled, rubbing her arm. "I'm okay. I promise. I feel better now."

Lucy blinked and lifted her head to look at him. "You do?"

"Yup!" He offered her a toothy grin. "Thanks to you." He chuckled at seeing her blush, laying her head back on his shoulder to try and hide it from him.

"W-Well, I'm glad I could help," she stammered, reaching up to touch his hand as it hung over her shoulders, unaware of the jolt she sent through Natsu's body. He gulped, fisting some grass in his other hand as his heart started to race.

 _Damn it. Just fucking relax, Natsu. It's just your hand. Whaddya getting so worked up about?_

He groaned internally at himself, glancing down at their hands through his peripherals. His chest deflated in a brief sigh, feeling his nerves slowly relax and uncoil, gradually forgetting about Gray's ugly face and the way he made her laugh earlier. Lucy was sitting next to _him_ now, holding his hand and laying her head on his shoulder.

She was close with Gray, but not nearly as close as she was to him.

Lucy never sat in silence like this with Gray, or held his hand, or tried to get to the bottom of why he seemed just a little upset. She didn't do any of those things with anyone else either.

No.

This side of her was just for him.

 _Only_ him.

And for Natsu, that was good enough.

At least for now.


	2. If I Lay Here

If I Lay Here

 _Would you lie with me and just forget the world?_

* * *

"I don't think this is a good idea."

Natsu received barely any acknowledgement for his comment, causing him to sigh, leaning his chin in his palm as he watched his blonde roommate get dressed for the party that night. His dark eyes were clouded with concern. She had broken up with her cheating scumbag of a boyfriend a couple days before, spending most of them crying her eyes out on the couch or burying herself in her studies to try and keep herself from thinking about it.

And then a friend invited her to a party, giving her an opportunity to drown her sorrows in alcohol.

What better way to ignore her broken heart?

But Natsu wouldn't have it. He's been trying to talk her out of going all day, because he knew alcohol wasn't what she needed right now, no matter how efficiently she convinced herself otherwise. Normally, Natsu would be one hundred percent down with a party – they gave him an excuse to neglect his school work and challenge Gray to a game of beer pong, which usually gave him a nice buzz of adrenaline while also making him a little bit more than tipsy, especially if Cana was nearby. But this was different.

Even though she said she was fine and that she needed to let loose, he knew better.

She _was_ his best friend, for crying out loud.

She was still hurting, and she desperately wanted to make it stop, by any means.

"Let's just stay home tonight, Luce," he suggested, his knee bouncing anxiously. "We'll order some Chinese or something, and have a nice movie night. That sounds way better than some college party."

"I need this right now, Natsu," Lucy interjected, sitting down across from him at their kitchen table to do her makeup. "I need to have fun, take a load off, and a movie night isn't going to cut it."

"But–"

"Natsu," she cut him off, turning her deep brown eyes onto his and giving him _that_ look, the one that told him to shut his mouth if he didn't want to lose his life. "I'm going to the party whether you want me to or not. I would prefer to have some company, but I'm going regardless." She softened her features, releasing a slow sigh. "After what happened with Dylan, I just… I need to forget I ever went out with that douche, okay?" She reached over to him and gently laid her hand on top of his. "So come with me? Please?"

Natsu glanced between her eyes and their hands a few times before he looked away, swallowing down the lump in his throat.

How could he say no to those eyes?

"Fine," he mumbled begrudgingly. "I'll go with you."

And then she smiled.

That beautiful, genuine smile that made him weak in the knees, his heart beat a little faster, and his breath hitch in his throat. He loved that smile, but he hated it at the same time. He hated that she had such a strong affect on him. It made him feel vulnerable, and he really didn't like to feel vulnerable. That feeling only increased when she gave him a warm hug.

"Thank you, Natsu," she mumbled into his chest before pulling away and looking up at him to give him a grin. "It'll be fun, okay? We'll have fun."

"If you say so, Luce." He cleared his throat and started to walk away. "I'll go change, and then we can go."

* * *

Natsu was beginning to panic.

This party was a lot more rowdy than he had been expecting, so when he turned his back for _two fucking seconds_ to get some food for Lucy – who had started drinking the second she crossed the threshold into the house, without eating anything – he turned back around only to find that she had disappeared somewhere into the crowd. He couldn't find her anywhere. Her blonde head was nowhere to be seen. It was like she had somehow vanished into thin air. His teeth ground together with frustration. Where the _hell_ could she be?! How did he lose her so easily, especially with this crowd?

His chest heaved in a sigh as he weaved through the people, being part of the two percent on the premises that was sober. Normally, he'd be getting hammered with Lucy and the rest of their friends, but _now_ , he only had one fucking job – keep an eye on Lucy. And he fucking failed, almost immediately. He wedged himself between a few drunk college kids and onto the stairs, leaning against the banister so he could get a higher vantage point, his sharp eyes scanning over the area to try and spot his lost roommate. He didn't have any luck, but he did manage to find another familiar face.

"Gray!" he shouted over the pounding music, cupping his hand around his mouth in an attempt to make his voice louder. The said boy lifted his head from his conversation at the sound of his name, looking around for the source until his navy eyes landed on Natsu. With his attention on him, the pinkette slid off the stairs and traversed the living room until he reached his friend, moving in close to him so he would be able to hear his voice. "Have you seen Lucy anywhere?"

"Lucy?" Gray echoed, his voice slightly slurred from the alcohol. After receiving a nod from Natsu, he took a moment to look around the room, briefly lifting himself up onto his toes to look higher. He lowered himself back down and shook his head, turning his gaze back to Natsu. "No, I haven't. Didn't even know you guys were here."

"Fuck," Natsu cursed, running a hand through his hair, disheveling it a little more than it was to begin with. "She's drinking away the pain of having just broken up, so I imagine she's pretty wasted. I was supposed to keep an eye on her so she wouldn't get hurt, but I lost track of her."

"So you suck at your job, eh?" Gray mused, chuckling as he took a gulp of his beer.

Natsu shot him a glare, not impressed. "This isn't funny, dickhead. I'm worried about her."

Gray sighed, leaning against the doorframe. "Have you checked upstairs?"

"No, I haven't. I wanted to check everywhere down here first, because I know she hates stairs when she's shitfaced." He scratched the back of his neck and shifted his weight between his feet, releasing a heavy sigh. Gray eyed him as he took another drink of his beer, frowning a bit. Natsu only got fidgety when he was really anxious about something. He rolled his eyes and lightly bumped him with his elbow, making him blink and turn toward him.

"If you're that worried 'bout her, then go look for her, ya idiot," Gray snapped, giving him a light glare. "Quit sittin' here talking to me." He gave him a shove toward the stairs, causing Natsu to grunt as he was forced into a few other people in the process. He apologized quickly when he received annoyed, drunken groans from those he bumped, shooting Gray a brief sneer from over his shoulder before pushing his way back toward the stairs. He held onto the railing as he slinked passed the drinking college kids, keeping close to the banister to try and prevent himself from knocking anyone over.

He was slightly taken aback by the number of couples that were making out on the second floor, but he did well to ignore them, checking each of the rooms he passed by. His cheeks warmed up to an unnatural temperature when he accidentally walked in on a couple doing some… R-rated things in one of the bedrooms, quickly closing the door once the guy started to cuss him out, mumbling out a quick "sorry!" as he did. He moved on, trying to force the unpleasant images out of his head with a weak clear of his throat.

He was _so_ done with this party. He just wanted to find Lucy and get the hell out of here.

Natsu released a heavy sigh and called out his roommate's name, hoping that maybe she could see or hear him even though he couldn't see or hear her. When he didn't get a response, he swallowed down the lump in his throat, starting to get really worried. When Lucy got drunk, she was typically easy to find, because she got loud when she was drunk. Well, louder than usual. She was also a very giddy drunk, so if she wasn't singing along to whatever song was playing, and if she wasn't she wasn't cheering about one thing or another, she would be laughing. Not about anything in particular, just for the hell of it, because laughing made her have fun.

Considering she wasn't doing any of these things, or at least in a place where he could hear her – which made his worries expand since he had exceptionally good hearing – it caused him to come to a single conclusion: she wasn't having fun.

He didn't like that idea.

Just as he was about to make his way back downstairs, he heard something that made him stop in his tracks.

"Come on, babe, don't be like that."

Natsu knew that voice.

He _loathed_ the owner of that voice.

He looked over his shoulder, in the direction of where _his_ voice came from, his blood turning to lava at the sight that greeted him.

Lucy's ex, Dylan, standing in the corner and using his arms to brace himself against the wall, trapping Lucy herself between his body and the wall behind her. She had her hands on his chest, clearly trying to push him away, but her current state had her strength drastically diminished.

"Get away from me, Dylan," she demanded in a frail whimper, her voice awfully slurred. Natsu jerked with realization. She didn't sound like how she usually did when she was drunk, and he took notice of her posture as well. She was leaning heavily against the wall, and her head was lulled to the side. Her eyes were heavy and she blinked often, as if she was having trouble seeing.

Natsu knew the symptoms.

She had been drugged.

"Aw, Lucy," Dylan murmured, leaning down to nuzzle into her neck. "Come on. I miss you."

Natsu growled and stalked toward them, grabbing Dylan's shoulder and yanking him away, landing a hard punch square to the face, knocking him straight to the floor. He felt adrenaline rush through his veins in satisfaction; he'd wanted to do that to the prick for weeks. He didn't have time to celebrate however, because as soon as she didn't have anything to support her besides the wall, Lucy started to slump toward the ground, but Natsu's quick reflexes allowed him to catch her before she could reach the floor.

Lucy didn't know how to react to anything that was happening, feeling like she was just going to float away because of how much the world was spinning around her. She didn't know what was going on, or where she was. She vaguely knew that Dylan was somewhere nearby and even with her foggy state of mind, she knew she didn't want to be anywhere near him.

"Luce?" Natsu whispered, putting an arm around her shoulders to keep her up against his chest. "Are you okay?"

Lucy didn't answer, but she did cling onto him, wrapping her arms around his waist to steady herself, relieved to hear his smooth voice. She swallowed hard as she fisted his shirt, afraid he was going to slip away if her grasp on him was any weaker. The arm that was around her shoulders started to gently rub her back, assuring her that he was there and wasn't planning on going anywhere. Her eyes fluttered closed, taking a slow breath to try and relax her nerves, attempting to push away her nausea.

Natsu released a soft sigh, his nerves at ease now that he knew she was safe. He shot a snarl at Dylan, who was still on the floor trying to recover from the blow to the face that broke his nose. Natsu rolled his eyes and turned away – he would deal with him later. But right now, he needed to get Lucy home and into bed.

He bent down and hooked his arm under Lucy's knees, carefully lifting her up into his arms and carrying her down the stairs, taking care to not bump her into anyone as he exited the house, walking back to their apartment. He gazed at her face as he walked, frowning at seeing her blonde hair stuck to her forehead because of how much she was sweating, her eyes heavily lidded but not closed, and her mouth parted lightly, her breathing deep and slow but ragged. Her head rested limply against his shoulder, one arm dangling between their bodies while the other one rested against his chest, his shirt gently fisted in her grasp.

He couldn't bare to see her in such a state, hating how weak and frail she looked. He grit his teeth together. Dylan, that asshole. He would get what was coming to him, without a doubt. Hell, if Lucy hadn't been in such a distressed condition, he would've given Dylan what was coming to him at the party, but despite how badly he wanted to do so, he knew getting Lucy home was greater a priority.

Natsu never liked Dylan. He told Lucy that the week they started going out. He knew he was bad news from the start, but she didn't listen to him, knowing that he had a history of being overly protective of her. But even after she'd come into his work one day earlier that week, in tears as she explained to him that she caught Dylan cheating on her, he held his tongue from saying "I told you so."

As much as he wanted to, he knew it wouldn't make her feel any better. It would make her feel worse, because she admitted that she should have listened to him. He didn't want to pour salt on an open wound.

He felt his heart sink into his stomach. She didn't deserve to feel like this. She didn't deserve to have someone take advantage of her like this, to toy with her emotions. She deserved to have someone that made her happy, taken care of, safe. She deserved someone who cared for her, someone who loved her.

Someone like him.

Natsu shook his head, forcing himself to stop thinking such silly thoughts. Now was not the time to be thinking like that. He was in no position to be selfish like that. What he needed to do at that moment, was get Lucy home safe.

She felt blank, not quite sure what was happening or where she was, but she despite her confusion, she was at ease. Even in her intoxicated state, she knew she was safe. She knew his scent anywhere; the smell of campfire and cinnamon was distinguishable no matter if she was sober or not. She repositioned her head against his chest, laying it over his heart, the steady rhythmic beat lulling her eyes shut. Her lungs deflated in a slow, breathy sigh, snuggling her face deeper into his chest.

Despite the situation – and his previous thoughts – Natsu felt his cheeks warm up at the action. He gulped, taking a calming breath to try and keep his heart from accelerating whilst climbing up the stairs to their apartment. He tried to go up each step as smoothly as possible so as not to jostle Lucy and possibly upset her stomach more than it probably already was to begin with, but it didn't seem like he was doing all that good of a job. Her grip on his shirt suddenly tightened as her body grew rigid, her shoulders heaving as she started breathing a little more harshly.

"Na… Nat… su," she gasped, her head bowing down and her eyes squeezing shut. "Natsu…"

"I gotcha," he assured, quickening his stride toward their door, holding her up with one arm as best he could before reaching into his pocket and pulling out their keys, unlocking the door. "Just hold on a little longer, Luce. We're almost there." He kicked the door shut behind him and hurried across the apartment and into the bathroom, kneeling beside the toilet and gingerly setting Lucy down in front of it. As soon as she felt the chill of the tiles, she immediately grabbed onto the sides of the toilet and hunched over it, giving back everything she had drank that night and barely giving her rosy haired roommate the opportunity to scoop her hair back and hold it away from her face.

Natsu frowned as he sat by her side, holding her hair with one hand while he rubbed her back with the other. He hated nights like this. They didn't happen very often, but every now and then, she has one drink too many and is forced to throw it all back up. He didn't mind sitting with her while it happened, he'd actually much rather be there to make sure she made it to the nearest toilet or trash can so that she didn't vomit all over herself – or someone else, for that matter – because heaven knows how humiliated she would be. Not that he didn't get a little fun out of embarrassing her every now and then, because he _totally_ did. The way her face lit up like a ripe tomato, the look she got on her face when he said something inappropriate outloud in a public place, it was too good to pass up sometimes.

It had nothing to do with how cute she was when she blushed, or when she looked around to see if anybody noticed, or the smile she would try to bite back so she could keep up her facade of being annoyed with him.

It really didn't.

Really.

Anyway, as much fun as he had while messing with her every now and then, he knew how much shame she would feel if she vomited in public, over herself or someone else. She would practically die, hole herself up in their apartment for a week, in the least. She would be too ashamed to go out in public, or even go onto social media.

He didn't want that.

Natsu looked up, snapping out of his thoughts when he felt Lucy's muscles start to relax. She was only panting now, her arms shaking as she held onto the toilet, her sweaty palms struggling to keep a firm grip on the porcelain. Natsu gently reached up and lightly brushed her bangs away from her forehead, tucking them behind her ear.

"You good?" he murmured, continuing to rub soothing circles into her back.

It took a moment for her to respond, her head nodding weakly. "Y-Yeah."

"You ready to stand up? Or do you need a few more minutes?" Her only response was just a weary shake of her head, signaling to Natsu that she wasn't ready to get up yet. So he sat there with her, tenderly stroking her hair to hopefully get her to relax further. He assumed it was working, because she gradually tilted away from the toilet, just about collapsing into him. He cradled her head against his shoulder as he slowly leaned his back against the wall, reaching over to flush the toilet. He just held her, petting her hair and gently rocking her back and forth.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Lucy spoke up. "We shouldn't have gone to that party," she muttered, her voice sounding much better now that the most harmful things that were in her body had been vacated. She still sounded pretty intoxicated, but not nearly as much as she did forty-five minutes ago, which was something that made Natsu visibly relax. He chuckled once, resting his cheek on the top of her head.

"You think?" he quipped. Lucy internally rolled her eyes and tried to smack him, but she only had enough strength to feebly caress his arm instead.

"Shut up," she snapped lightheartedly. He only laughed once more, the smooth noise resonating within his chest. They fell into silence once again, Lucy just listening to the sound of his heartbeat, being coaxed toward the darkness of sleep by the peaceful rise and falls of his chest with each of his slow, drawn-out breaths.

"Are you feeling better?" he asked quietly, the sudden rumblings in his chest making her flinch in moderate surprise. She didn't answer verbally, only nodding her head yes. Natsu grinned in relief, massaging her back. "Are you ready to head to bed?" She nodded. "Do you want me to carry you?" Again, she just nodded. He smiled warmly and carefully slid his arm under her legs for the second time that night, holding her close to his frame as he effortlessly stood up. He bumped the light switch with his elbow on the way out the door, carrying the blonde into her room. He laid her down on her bed, watching her slump into the mattress with a small exhale.

"Natsu," she whined when he pulled away, pouting sleepily. He held back a laugh, admiring how adorable she was. She was still drunk, but this was the drunk Lucy he preferred. At least she seemed to be enjoying herself again, even just a little bit.

"Yeah?" he mused. She continued to whine, lifting up her foot as best she could before letting it plop back down. He lifted an eyebrow. "What?"

"Shoes," she grumbled, gesturing vaguely to her feet. "Take them off. Please." He couldn't hold back the laugh this time, shaking his head in amusement before reaching down and undoing the fastenings to her heels, taking them off her feet and tossing them to the floor by her closet, knowing if he tried to put them away properly, he'd fuck up her "system" and she would definitely chew him out the next day. He turned to face her and smiled, gently brushing her bangs out of her eyes.

"Better?" he hummed, smiling wider when she grinned back, nodding her head.

"Yes," she crooned. He grinned, happy to see that she was acting like her old self again. Well, her old drunk-self. She reached up toward him, weakly giving a tug on his hand after he'd given it to her. She hugged him around the shoulders, making him blink and widen his eyes. His cheeks flushed to the color of his hair, his arms lifting up to return the embrace.

"L-Luce?" he sputtered, coughing awkwardly as a cover.

"You're always taking such good care of me," she hummed, her voice soft near his ear. Natsu chuckled lightly and gently pat her back.

"I'm your best friend, you weirdo," he retorted, practically scoffing like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "It's my job to take care of you, especially when you're a hot mess." His mouth curled up into a grin when he got her to laugh, however, it was weak and lethargic.

"You're funny, Natsu," she laughed, her chocolate brown eyes regaining some of their usual light as she pulled away from him, just about collapsing back onto the mattress before he caught her, gently laying her down instead of letting her fall. "You make me laugh."

"Mission accomplished, then." She giggled once, letting her body relax into the comforter. Natsu smiled and exhaled slowly through his nose, reaching out and stroking her hair. "Get some rest, Luce. You need to sleep this off." She hummed happily at the feeling of his fingers lightly combing through her hair, forcing her eyes to open so that she could look at him. He offered her a smile, to which she smiled back, albeit much weaker than his.

"Natsu?" she whispered, her eyes falling closed again, unable to hold themselves open any longer.

"Yeah?"

"Will you lay with me?" Natsu's eyes widened, surprised. She… she wanted him to lay with her? In the same bed? His heart skipped a few beats, and the warmth in his cheeks from before had returned at full force. When she didn't receive anything other than silence as a response, she blindly fumbled for him. "Natsu? Please?" Her roommate swallowed, gulping down the massive lump in his throat as he took her hand into his, stroking it with his thumb.

"S-Sure. I'll stay."

Natsu kicked off his shoes and carefully climbed over her since she was laying so close to the edge of the bed, plopping down next to her. His heart nearly leapt up into his throat when she turned onto her side and laid against him, resting his head atop his chest and draping her arm over his abdomen, hiking her leg up a bit to lay on top of his. She inhaled deeply through her nose, taking in his scent – campfire and cinnamon – and releasing it in a long, slow exhale. Natsu gulped, lifting a shaky hand to rest on her shoulder, rubbing it softly. He felt her all but melt into into their embrace, her head weakly nuzzling deeper into his chest.

"Natsu," she called, her voice barely above a whisper. If Natsu's hearing wasn't as sharp as it was, he probably would've missed it.

"Hm?" he hummed, staring up at the ceiling as he tried to steady his pounding heart.

"Thank you."

His onyx eyes blinked once, twice.

"For what?"

"Everything."

Natsu blinked once more, a warm, radiant smile crawling onto his face. He glanced down at her, watching her shoulder slowly rise and fall with her breathing. She looked so peaceful, so serene, like she didn't just have one of the worst nights – one of the worst _weeks_ – of her life. The smile on his face broadened a fraction, admiring how pretty she was, even when she looked wrecked. Her golden blonde tresses fell gently over her face when she shifted her head into a more comfortable position, and he wasted no time in brushing it back, his fingertips ghosting over her cheekbone. His hand lingered long enough to let himself stroke her cheek, her soft skin feeling like smooth silk beneath his calloused touch. Without putting much thought into the action, as if it were a reflex, Natsu tilted his head down to place a delicate, yet warm kiss to her forehead.

"Goodnight, Luce," he breathed, watching as she hummed her idle acknowledgement of his words, her body gradually going limp against his as she finally succumbed to her slumber. He kept his eyes trained on her face whilst she slept. In that moment, he forgot about everything else, allowing himself to only be focused on her. Natsu closed his eyes, breathing in her scent as he also began to surrender to sleep. Forget about the party, forget about Dylan, forget about the world around them. All there was, was her and him. That's all he cared about.

* * *

 **Author's Note: hey, guys! Sorry for being kind of inactive. I've been super busy, and I'm actually in Japan right now! Been doing cool things, seeing cool places, and I actually got to see Dragon Cry in theaters yesterday! And let me tell you guys, it was fucking awesome! It was so good, the Nalu was overwhelming, the animation was fantastic; I was ready to walk right back into the theater to watch it again. Can't wait to watch it again!**

 **Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I really loved writing it. Thanks again to the wonderful NilyaKirigaya for being my beta! Love you like crazy! And thanks to everyone who reviewed. I love your feedback, guys, so keep it up! Also don't forget to follow me on Tumblr! See you next time!**


	3. Smile

Smile

 _It's been a while_  
 _Since every day and everything has felt this right_  
 _And now, you turn it all around_  
 _And suddenly you're all I need_  
 _The reason why I smile_

* * *

"Hey."

Lucy didn't look up from her book. Despite hearing the voice, she didn't respond. She knew that whoever was talking wasn't talking to her, so there was no reason to pull herself away from the story she was so engrossed in.

 _And so it came to pass, that I, Malchior of Nol, did lay siege to the dread dragon Rorek. But it did seem the power of Rorek was greater than my magics could defeat. As the foul beast struck–_

"Hey," said the voice again, but this time, it was accompanied by a soft tug on her sleeve, startling her out of the trance her novel cast on her. She turned toward the source of the voice, starting once more when her eyes immediately fell upon a head of pink hair. The owner of that hair gave her a cheerful grin, his bright green eyes alive with a kind of energy Lucy hadn't seen before. In fact, she didn't think she'd seen this boy at all before. She did recall her teacher mentioning that they were going to have a new student yesterday. Perhaps the new student was him?

"What's your name?" he all but chirped, seeming rather eager to make new friends, which led her to solidify her conclusion. He was new, which would also explain why he was sitting next to her in the first place. No one ever sits next to her, not that she minded. She preferred to keep to herself, that way she wouldn't get attached to someone who was just going to leave her in the long run.

So instead of answering his question, Lucy merely turned back to her book, skimming across the page with her eyes to find where she last left off, ignoring the boy's voice when he tried to get her attention again and pulling away from his grasp once he attempted to grab her sleeve. She didn't want to make a new friend. She just wanted to focus on her book. Was that so hard to understand?

 _...lay siege to the dread dragon Rorek. But it did seem the power of Rorek was greater than my magics could defeat. As the foul beast struck, I–_

"Whatcha reading?"

Lucy's eye twitched as she was once again interrupted. Against her better judgement, she glanced toward him, seeing that he was leaning over her desk to try and get a look at the novel's cover. In response, she set the book down to keep him from seeing the title. Annoyed by his lack of respect, she finally decided to speak up.

"None of your business," she snapped, trying to harden her voice so she could sound tough, but it didn't seem to work as well as she wanted it to, for he only grinned in amusement. The action caused her irritation to worsen.

"That's a big book," he stated simply, unbothered by her tone or her glare.

"I'm aware," she spat.

"You can actually understand books that big?"

Lucy felt a blush dust its way over her features, releasing an involuntary scoff. So she was an eight-year-old with an above-average reading level, so what? She loved to read, always has. It was the only thing that would make her happy nowadays. Books took her to different worlds far away from her own. It was exciting. She'd lost count of all the nights she'd spent curled up with a good book, continuing to read one page after another until her eyes couldn't stay open any longer, wanting to stay away from her own reality for as long as she could.

Not wanting to be teased – again – for doing what she loved, Lucy went back to ignoring him, her eyes sharp like daggers as she focused on Malchior and his quest to conquer the evil dragon.

 _As the foul beast struck, I summoned the forces of–_

"Are you going to keep ignoring me? That isn't very nice, y'know."

Lucy, now fuming, slammed her book down with a menacing glare, her coffee brown orbs alight with fire. "Stop interrupting me!" she sneered, almost growling. "I need to find out what happens with Malchior!"

"Who's Malchior?" the boy questioned curiously. She exhaled sharply, steam practically billowing out of her ears.

"The strongest, most talented wizard in all the land! He's in the middle of his fight against the dragon Rorek, and you keep interrupting the battle!"

The boy's face immediately scrunched up in distaste, his brows furrowing deeply. "So you're rooting for the wizard and not the dragon?"

"Of course! Rorek is a destructive beast that needs to be brought down! He killed Malchior's family when he was just a baby! Now if you would please just leave me alone so I can see what happens to him!" Without giving him a chance to respond, she returned to her book with a huff, reading intently.

 _As the foul beast struck, I summoned the forces of my enchanted book and recited a curse more ancient than Rorek himself._

 _"Alduron Enlenthra Nalthos Sola Narisnor!"_

 _With the incantation delivered, my magic surged with–_

Lucy just about screamed in rage as the school bell rang, signaling that it was time for class to start, which also meant she had to put her book away. Annoyed beyond belief, she sent a heated scowl toward the boy beside her, feeling her blood run hot when she received a goofy grin in response.

"I'm Natsu, by the way."

The young blonde didn't dignify that comment with a reply, turning away from him with an exasperated scoff.

* * *

Lucy hated the new boy.

He was so invasive, not caring a single bit about her privacy or the fact that she obviously didn't want to be his friend. He didn't understand the concept of respect at all. He constantly asked her personal questions, about her parents, her life, what she liked to do, things like that. He also asked her what her name was for a few days, pestering her about it whenever he got the chance, until their teacher called on her to come write something on the board. She didn't know if that made it better or worse, because now he wasn't continuously asking her name, but now he knew her by name, and was always referring to her by name.

Although, she did suppose being called by her name was better than his prior alternative: Blondie.

Still, it drove her crazy.

 _He_ drove her crazy.

She didn't spare him a glance when she sat down beside him in class, pulling out her book and flipping to the page she was on. She ignored him when he greeted her, faintly hearing him ask about her book, but she held firm, tuning his voice out of her head as best she could. She felt her body relax when she heard him give up, unconsciously sneaking a glance at him to see that he had turned away from her, talking to a raven-haired boy he'd apparently befriended in the last few days. Her body relaxing even more now that a part of her didn't have to actively ignore him, she set her book down flat on her desk so that both of her hands were free, allowing her wrists a break. She usually alternated between holding her book up and letting it lay on her desk, but since Natsu's arrival, she never laid it down, using it to block his face from her line of sight.

Which, in hindsight, might have been a little petty. And now her wrists were sore because of it.

Leaning over her desk, she rested her elbow on the surface and propped her head up with her palm, her brown eyes moving fluidly over the words, soaking them up, allowing herself to be absorbed into the story. She submersed herself entirely, captivated by the story to such an extent that she didn't even hear the bell ring. Her gaze remained glued to the pages, the world around her seemingly dissolving into something else, taking her inside the story itself.

Malchior had succeeded in imprisoning Rorek within his magic book during their battle, but the curse was too strong. Unable to control such dark magic, the curse had also sucked Malchior into the book as well, confining him to the pages with the dragon. Millenia has passed since the incident, and Malchior's book has found its way into the hands of a young witch, who had been using magic to communicate with the imprisoned wizard to try and figure out a way to undo the curse and set him free. The witch had fallen in love with him, and was utterly crushed – as was Lucy – when the biggest plot twist of Lucy's life was revealed.

During the centuries of their confinement, the battle between dragon and wizard raged on until there came a victor. Much to Lucy's dismay, Rorek was victorious. With Malchior of Nol defeated, Rorek realized that he had gotten rid of the one person who could set him free. So he waited, for many, many years, until the witch found the book. He tricked her into believing that he was Malchior so that he could manipulate her into freeing him.

He was successful.

Lucy was now at the part where the witch became enraged by the betrayal, using the magic Rorek had taught her to fight the beast himself. So immersed in the story, Lucy really felt like she was there, watching the battle unfold. The sky was an eerie shade of green, the sounds of magic and the roars of a dragon echoing in Lucy's ears. She ducked behind a broken pillar as she observed from afar. She stared up at the gargantuan dragon, black and purple scales gleaming in the moonlight, his back arching upwards as he charged up an attack. His back suddenly straightened as his head lunged forward, a wave of red hot flames launching from his mouth and scorching its way toward the witch. She held up her hands in a defensive position, using her magic to block and deflect the fire, the wind from the collision causing her long, hooded cloak to flap wildly behind her.

Once the fire dispersed, the witch lifted up into the air and recited an incantation, magical energy surging from her body and hitting Rorek dead-on, knocking him back a few feet. Lucy watched in awe, her bright brown eyes glinting with wonder. She wanted the witch to win so badly, avenge Malchior so that he could rest in peace, and save many other people from witnessing first-hand the kind of pain and dread that Rorek could bring.

Lucy finally snapped out of her reverie when she heard something slam onto her desk, causing her to blink. Once her eyes opened a fraction of a second later, the scene was gone, and she found that she was still in her classroom, staring at her book. Except there was a hand over one of the pages, a hand that didn't belong to her. She blinked once more, bewildered, as she followed the arm attached to the hand, coming face to face with the girl that sat next to her. The girl gave her an annoyed glare and scoffed.

"Class has started, loser," she spat. "Put your disgusting book away." With that, she smirked maliciously and gave her book a shove, sliding it across her desk and knocking it onto the floor. The girl as well as some other kids in the vicinity started to snicker, making Lucy's cheeks redden even more than they already were from being embarrassed about getting so sucked into her book. Biting her inner cheek to keep herself from tearing up, she reached down to pick up her book, but stopped with a small flinch when she saw someone had already picked it up and was holding it out to her. She looked up at who was currently holding her book, her eyes locking with friendly green ones.

"Here," Natsu said softly, gently nudging her book against her hand when she didn't make a move to take it from him, her eyes locked onto his. The small nudge seemed to snap her out of it though, her eyes flickering down at the book and staring at it for a brief moment before she took it into her own hands, glancing back up at him as she slid it safely into her backpack.

"Thank you," she mumbled quietly. Natsu grinned, his lips pulling back to show off his set of brilliantly white teeth, his eyes sparkling.

"You're welcome, Luce."

Lucy turned away from him, letting her hair fall in front of her face, hiding the fresh coat of red on her cheeks.

* * *

Lucy sighed slowly as she sat beneath a tree in front of the school, finishing up the homework she didn't get to do during lunch or recess today, trying to tune out the sounds of the children around her as they either started their trek back home or ran up to meet with their parents. Lucy wasn't expecting anyone to come pick her up, at least not for a while. Her father usually had meetings around this time in the day, leaving him incapable of picking her up on time. He also didn't want to spend extra money on enrolling her in an afterschool program, or hiring a nanny to come and pick her up every day. She wouldn't mind walking home if they didn't live a couple miles away. During this time of year, a walk like that would definitely boil her before she got even close to the house.

Besides, staying at the school for another hour or so gave her time to work on her homework before she even got home. So she didn't really mind waiting.

For the most part, anyway.

She swallowed as her mind started to drift away from her work. _I didn't have to wait at school when mommy was here,_ she thought bitterly to herself, feeling tears starting to well up in her eyes. _Mommy was always here on time._ She sniffled and lifted her head, watching as a child ran over to a woman Lucy assumed to be his mother. She watched as they hugged, the woman placing a tender kiss on top of his head before standing up straight again, holding his hand while they started walking down the street, listening intently to her son as he recounted his day to her. Lucy felt her heart drop into her stomach like a stone. She missed her mother. She missed being hugged by her, she missed being able to tell her about her day.

Shaking her head to try and rid her mind of those thoughts, she put her homework away, deciding she could do it later. She needed her book right now. She needed to be taken away into a fantasy world before she ended up crying in public.

She flipped to the page she was on, immediately frowning even deeper than she was to begin with when she saw the pages were wrinkled from when the girl shoved her book away. With a sigh, she began to flatten them out as best she could, hating when any damage came to her precious books. Her stories were the only thing that was good in her life right now, and she needed them to remain in pristine condition. So wrapped up in trying to smoothen out the wrinkles, she didn't notice someone sitting down next to her until they announced themselves.

"Hey!" Natsu greeted cheerily, plopping onto the grass beside her, making her jump and squeak in surprise. Lucy narrowed her eyes once she recognized him. She _really_ didn't want to deal with the annoying new kid right now.

"What're you doing?" she griped, turning back to her task.

"Waiting on my brother," he replied casually, pulling out a soda from his backpack. "He's late, again." He paused with an exaggerated sigh, heavily rolling his eyes to show his annoyance. "Probably got caught up in his lame history club. What a jerk, making me wait here–"

"No," Lucy cut him off, shooting him a glare over her shoulder. "I _meant_ , what're you doing sitting next to me?"

Natsu blinked, looking at her as he opened his soda with a sharp _crack_. "I saw you sitting by yourself. Thought I'd give you some company."

Lucy swiftly averted her eyes once more, trying to hide her blush from his gaze. She scoffed, more at herself than at him. Why in the world was she blushing around this fool?! "I don't want any company," she said grumpily, rubbing out one of the wrinkles in her book. Natsu took a drink of his soda, opting to stay silent in response. His eyes followed her gaze down to the novel in her lap, his lips tugging downward when he saw how rumpled it looked.

"Is that because of that girl?" he questioned, pointing to the page for emphasis. Lucy closed her eyes to avoid rolling them, silently counting to ten. Knowing that trying to get him to leave was futile, she sighed as she opened her eyes, gazing down at her book and gently tracing her fingertips over the words.

"Yeah," she said softly, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Tch," he clicked his tongue, lounging back against the tree. "I mean, I think you're weird for reading that thing too, but I would never smack it away from you."

Lucy's eye twitched at being called weird, but she decided to be the bigger person and ignore it. "You wouldn't?"

"Nope." He sat up to look at her more closely. "So, what, you got a crazy reading level or something?"

Lucy shrank back a bit, a little put off by his intense stare. "Y-yes. I have a reading level of an eighth grader."

Natsu's eyes lit up as he grinned. "Really? That's cool. I stink at reading. And I think it's super boring. _Waaaay_ too many words for my brain to understand." He laughed for a moment, hoping to cheer her up at least a little. When he saw her mouth didn't so much as twitch, his smile faltered before slowly falling from his face completely. "Why don't you ever smile?"

Lucy blinked, as if shocked to be asked such a question. She looked away from him, gently closing her book before hugging it to her chest. "I never have a reason to."

"You don't? Don't you have any friends to laugh with?" Lucy didn't hesitate before shaking her head, staring at the grass at her feet. Natsu's frown deepened. He opened his mouth to say something to her, but the call of his name cut him off before any words could come out.

"Natsu!" The said boy looked up to see his older brother a little ways away from them, standing on the sidewalk with a backpack slung over his shoulder. He waved him over. "Come on, let's go!"

"Coming!" Natsu called back, grabbing his own backpack and standing up. He looked at Lucy. "Do you want us to take you home?"

Lucy stared at him in disbelief. Did… did someone really ask to take her home? Did that really just happen? She swallowed the lump in her throat as she shook her head, despite how desperately she wanted to say yes.

"N-no, that's alright," she stammered, unconsciously tightening her grip around her book. "My dad will be here soon."

The young boy nodded, giving her a friendly smile. "Okay. See you later then, Luce!" He waved at her before jogging to his brother. Lucy watched the two of them walk away until they disappeared around a corner. She sniffled and looked around, noticing that most of the children were gone, leaving her alone in relative silence. She lowered her head, hiding her face behind her book as she curled into it tighter.

She hated being alone.

* * *

Lucy really didn't like finishing a good book that didn't have a sequel.

She absolutely loved how her book ended, with the witch defeating Rorek and putting an end to the dreadful beast once and for all, finally allowing Malchior to rest in peace. She loved the finale, so perfect and elegantly written. But now it was over, and she didn't have a sequel to follow up with. Now she was so invested in the witch and her backstory, her life in general, and she doesn't get to know anything about it.

Ah, the bittersweetness of finishing a good novel.

For Lucy, one of the hardest things about being an avid reader was starting a new story after finishing the other. She brought two contenders to school that day, looking back and forth between them as she sat alone at her table, her lunch pushed off to the side. She just couldn't decide which one to get started on. She had read the descriptions of both stories multiple times. On one hand, she had a story about teenaged girl, who's actually a half-dragon – Lucy had an affinity for fantasy stories, ones that contained dragons in particular – working to try and bring the humans and the dragons together, instead of being mortal enemies. That one sounded promising, not to mention intriguing. But on the other hand, she had a love story between a girl with strange magical abilities, and a boy with a mysterious background. Lucy had skimmed through this book, and apparently the boy, Damen, is immortal? And he's lived for hundreds of years? He also seems to know about Ever's strange powers.

At the moment, she was leaning more toward the latter. She was a sucker for a good love story, and this one seemed to be full of twists and turns.

And it's the first book in a series of six. So that's a _huge_ factor to consider.

"Looking for another stupid book to waste your time with?"

Lucy jerked at the sudden voice, turning her head toward the source. Her eyes landed on the girl that sits next to her in class, her arms folded over her chest as she looked down at Lucy with distaste. The blonde gulped and started to put her books away, not wanting to be teased about them. The girl snatched one of them away from her before she could put it in her backpack. Panicking, she stood up and tried to take it back.

"Give it back, Sorano," she demanded, keeping her voice hardened so she wouldn't appear weak. Sorano, however, continued to hold the book out of her grasp, taking in what was on the cover.

"Dragons?" she scoffed, flipping her silver hair over her shoulder. "I thought only boys were interested in dragons."

Lucy's face went crimson, feeling like diving head first into a hole when Sorano's friends started to snicker behind her. Her blush only darkened when one of her male friends spoke up.

"Even I don't like dragons," he jeered, a mocking smirk dancing on his face. "The only people who like dragons are geeks and nerds."

"Give it back," Lucy repeated, her voice softer than before. She could feel the familiar sensation of tears pricking at the back of her eyes, but she refused to let them surface. The last thing she needed was to cry in front of a bully. Sorano huffed and held the book out to her, waiting for Lucy to reach for it before dropping it to the floor.

"No wonder you don't have any friends," Sorano sneered, watching with satisfaction as Lucy kneeled down to pick up her novel. "You're just a loser, and that's all you'll ever be." Lucy didn't look up at her as she turned to put her book away, trying to hide her face as the tears became harder and harder to subdue.

"Hey!"

Lucy flinched at the sudden shout, looking up to see Natsu storming over to the group. Her eyes widened, a single tear breaking free and trailing down her cheek.

"N-Natsu?" she stammered, stunned by his angered expression. He stood in front of her, acting as a barrier between her and Sorano.

"Leave her alone!" he ordered, his hands balled into fists at his sides. Lucy blinked, ignoring the other tears that fell from her eyes as she stared at the back of his head. Was he… sticking up for her?

"Or what, pinkie?" Sorano snickered, amused. "What are you gonna do?"

"I ain't afraid to hit a girl," Natsu warned, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "So what if she likes to read? What's so bad about that, huh? At least she's smart enough to read, which is more than I can say for you, Miss Flunks-Every-Class. Why don't you pull that broom out of your ass and use it to clean up your bitchy attitude?" The students that had started to listen in on the conversation all started laughing, causing Sorano's face to redden, in embarrassment or anger, it was hard to tell. She huffed and started to turn around without a word, but stopped dead in her tracks when she felt something douse her hair. She turned back toward Natsu and saw – much to her horror – that he had grabbed a soda from Lucy's table and poured it over her head.

"Oops," was all he said, shrugging nonchalantly. Sorano fumed and spun on her heel, stalking out of the cafeteria. With a triumphant smirk, Natsu turned around to look at Lucy. "You okay?" His grin disappeared when Lucy wouldn't look at him, her arms wrapped around herself. He frowned a bit. "Oi, what's wrong?"

"You shouldn't have done that," she murmured, her voice cracking a bit.

"Huh?" Natsu uttered dumbly. He glanced at the soda can in his hand and blinked when realization hit him. "Oh, whoops. Sorry, I didn't mean to steal your soda. You can have mine. Let me go–"

"Not that!" she shouted, the suddenness making him jump. She looked up at him, tears still falling from her eyes. The sight made him stiffen, his hands immediately clamming up. He stayed silent, his voice caught in his throat. They maintained eye contact for a few seconds before she swatted his arm, causing him to yelp.

"Ow!" He grabbed his arm, rubbing where she hit him, a distinct pout on his lips. "What was that for?"

"For being stupid, you dumb idiot!" she snapped, smacking his arm once more.

"Ouch!"

"You shouldn't have done that for me! Now you're going to get in trouble!"

"So?" he retorted, massaging the sore spot. "She deserved it!"

"Still!" She turned away, grabbing her stuff and bolting out the door. Natsu blinked, watching her run.

"Lucy! Wait!"

She didn't heed his call, didn't even look back.

* * *

Natsu felt relief wash over him as he exited the school through the front doors. He hated detention. It was just so boring. He could've been at home an hour ago, playing video games with his brother. But _no_ , Sorano had to go tell a teacher that he cussed at her and poured soda on her. He clicked his tongue in annoyance. She deserved it. Granted, maybe pouring the soda over her head was going a bit overboard, but he couldn't stop himself after hearing the things she said to Lucy. Not only that, but she disrespected her things as well.

He wouldn't stand for it.

Speaking of Lucy, Natsu was surprised to see her still sitting under the same tree in front of the school. She was still here, an hour after school had ended? Furrowing his brows, he traversed the lawn until he reached the tree. As he got closer, he saw that she was reading a new book. A small smile graced his features. She must've finally picked one. He came to a stop a few feet away from her, laughing softly when she didn't seem to notice him.

"Luce," he called, amused when she flinched and looked up at him, her eyes a bit wide with a little bit of shock.

"Natsu."

He grinned. "Whatcha still doing here?" Lucy swallowed and marked her spot in her book, placing it on top of her backpack before standing up and facing him. She avoided his eyes, biting her lower lip.

"I was waiting for you," she admitted. Not expecting that answer, Natsu's grin was replaced with a stunned expression, his eyebrows raised. He opened his mouth to speak, but she beat him to the punch. "I wanted to apologize, for the way I've treated you since you got here. You've been nothing but nice and friendly to me, and I've just been a jerk to you. I'm sorry. I'm also sorry for hitting you earlier. You didn't deserve it, especially after standing up for me like that. I'm just..." She trailed off with a trembling sigh. She didn't want to bring up her mother, but she owed him an explanation for her behavior. He deserved as much. "I'm not the best at being social, because a few years ago–"

"It's okay," he cut in dismissively, his smile having returned. "I kinda guessed you had a reason. It's okay that you're shy, or that you aren't used to making friends. Who cares about that?" Lucy's eyes widened as she looked at him. He was just going to forgive her, that easily? She prepared herself to say more, but before she could, she saw him tilt his head to the side, looking passed her and at the cover of her book. "Dragons, eh?" The blonde immediately started shutting down, bracing herself for another teasing comment. She trained her eyes on the ground as she nodded silently, prepared for the worst.

 _The only people who like dragons are geeks and nerds. You're just a loser, and that's all you'll ever be._

"Cool! I love dragons!"

Her head snapped up to look at him, thrown off by his response.

"Y-you do?" she said shakily, not yet believing what he said.

"Uh, yeah," he said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. His smile broadened, his green eyes gleaming with excitement. "Dragons are awesome! Didja ever find out what happened to that dragon from your book? I know you said you weren't rooting for him, which is still totally weird, by the way. But didja? Did he win? Did he kick that lame wizard's butt?" Lucy only stared at him, unsure of what to say or do. She had never met anyone that got as excited about dragons as she did. She had gotten so used to everyone saying that dragons were lame, and that she was stupid for liking them so much. How was it possible that this boy continued to throw surprise after surprise at her?

 _"Natsu Dragneel!"_

Both of the children jumped at the sudden shout, whirling around to see a beautiful woman with long black hair striding toward them, anger flaring in her eyes like fire. Natsu paled, waving awkwardly with a forced, uneasy grin.

"H-Hi, mom," he stammered. His mother scoffed as she came to a stop in front of him, putting her hands on her hips.

"Detention?" she questioned heatedly. "For cussing a little girl out and dumping a soda over her? In your _very first week_ at a new school? Are you _serious?_ "

He cleared his throat. "Mom, let me–"

"You _know_ our rules about using that kind of language, Natsu! What were you thinking? And dumping a soda over a little girl's hair! You know better than to treat others like that! You're going to apologize to that girl first thing tomor–"

"Mom!" Natsu shouted over his mother's voice, getting her to stop talking. He gestured to Lucy. "I was standing up for a friend! The girl was calling her names and making fun of her!" The woman turned her sharp eyes onto Lucy, making the small girl shrink down under the intensity of her stare. Natsu lowered his voice a bit. "I was sticking up for her. I wasn't gonna let her get away with treating my friend like that." Lucy's heart skipped a few beats when his words processed in her head, heat rising to her cheeks.

 _Friend…?_

The woman's gaze softened, looking Lucy up and down before she took a step toward her. "You didn't get detention too, did you, sweetheart? My boy didn't drag you down with him, did he?"

Lucy immediately shook her head. "N-no, ma'am," she squeaked.

She nodded. "I see. Then why are you at the school so late?"

Lucy swallowed and looked away, fidgeting with her hands. "My dad is always late to picking me up. I'm usually always here at this time." Natsu's mother frowned a bit, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"What's your name, sweetheart?"

"Lucy."

"Would you like to come over to our house, Lucy? Until your father can pick you up?" Lucy's eyes widened, shocked for the zillionth time that day. Unsure of what she should do, she glanced at Natsu, surprised to see him smiling and nodding, silently urging her to say yes. She looked back at his mother to see her wearing a warm smile as well. "You can use our phone to call him and let him know where you are." Lucy spared one more glance to Natsu before refocusing her gaze on his mother, swallowing the mass in her throat as she nodded.

"Okay. S-Sure."

His mother grinned. "Alright. I'll go get the car." She turned to Natsu, her son instantly shrinking under her stare. "You are going to tell your father what you did today." She gently stroked Natsu's hair, giggling softly. "Because you know he's _definitely_ going to want to hear about it. And from now on, when you're standing up for a friend, don't douse other students in soda. Or any type of liquid, for that matter. And keep the cussing to a minimum. You understand?"

Natsu nodded vehemently. "Yes, ma'am."

She smiled once more, leaning down to kiss the top of his head. "That's my boy," she whispered softly, just barely loud enough for Lucy to hear, before she turned on her heel, walking back to the car. Natsu grinned brightly at Lucy.

"Grab your stuff, Luce, and let's go–" He cut off with a grunt when Lucy suddenly ran up and hugged him tightly. Blinking a few times, he looked down at the top of her head, bewildered.

"Thank you," she mumbled into his chest. Natsu felt an uncomfortable warmth creep up his neck and onto his face, a pink blush fanning over his cheeks and staining his ears.

"F-for what?" he stuttered, trying to keep his cool.

"For being my friend."

Natsu cleared his throat softly, his blush darkening a shade or two. He was about to return the hug when she pulled away, allowing him to see something that made his heart stop for a moment.

She was smiling, and _holy crap_ , did she have the prettiest smile he'd ever seen. Unable to look away from her radiance, he felt his throat run dry and his heart kick into overdrive. She could light up the entire world with a smile like that.

Unfamiliar with feeling so flustered, he awkwardly cleared his throat once again and hastily reached down to grab her stuff. Holding her things in one hand, he grabbed her wrist with the other, practically dragging her toward his mother's car.

"C-Come on, you weirdo."

If his heart could beat any faster already, it certainly did when he heard her giggle from behind him, sounding like music to his ears.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Hey, guys! Sorry for the really long hiatus. Life has just been a pain in the butt, especially after coming back from Japan. Being an adult sucks. I can't believe the manga's over! Weekends feel so empty now! I hate it!**

 **Anyway, all the stories that were mentioned are real! The story with Malchior is from an episode in season three of the Teen Titans cartoon, and the two books Lucy was deciding on reading were "Seraphina" by Rachel Hartman, and "Evermore" by Alyson Noel, both of which I highly recommend to my fellow avid readers out there.**

 **Also, has anyone else been having troubles with the Document Manager, or is it just me? It's been really buggy lately, and it's really started to drive me crazy! I need to know that I'm not the only one who's bugged out!**

 **Don't forget to leave a review, and follow me on Tumblr for updates on all my stories!**


	4. Accidentally in Love

Accidentally in Love

 _Well, I didn't mean to do it_  
 _But there's no escaping your love_  
 _(Or the ball hurtling straight for you)_

* * *

Natsu was always up for a challenge.

No matter what it was, he was always down to prove himself to whoever doubted him or his abilities. It was in his nature to be competitive, which is what landed him his position as captain of his school's soccer team in the first place. He was talented, driven, and could run for miles without needing to stop. He was one of the fastest on the team, he was one of the strongest on the team, he was one of the most agile on the team, he was one of the _best_ on the team.

Hell, he _was_ the best on the team.

Hence his position as captain.

He kicked ass on the field, leading his team to victory ever single game. They were undefeated. So to say that he had a bit of an ego, was a bit of an understatement. He had a huge ego, one that towered to staggering heights. However, it was deservedly so. He was the best, after all. So when one of his teammates offered him a challenge, of course he had no qualms with following through.

"Kick the ball as hard as you can," his teammate, Gray, dared him to do one afternoon during practice. "If you really are as cool as you say, then prove it. Let's see how far you can send it with one kick."

Natsu scoffed, grabbing his foot and pulling it back, pressing it against his butt as he stood, stretching out his quadricep. "I don't have to prove anything," he retorted with a roll of his eyes, trying to ignore the request. He had to focus on practicing, nothing else. He held back a glare when he heard his teammate snort.

"Sure you don't," Gray mocked, reveling in how easy it was for him to get under Natsu's skin. "But let's say someone else is able to kick it farther than you. Say… me?" He smirked when he caught the twitch in Natsu's eyebrow, the mere thought of Gray being better than him sending his blood to boiling temperatures.

"Pfft, you're dreaming if you think you can beat me, ice princess," Natsu huffed, switching legs.

Gray hummed nonchalantly, bending down to stretch his hamstrings. "I've done it before. Remember that time in third grade, when I kicked your ass at–"

"You cheated and you know it!" he snapped, his eyes ablaze, ready for a fight. Gray snickered, glancing up at him through his messy bangs.

"Right. Then prove it." He nodded toward two of their other teammates as they kicked the ball back and forth. "Go give it a good whack, hotshot." With his only response being a determined _hmph_ , Gray stood up and observed as Natsu stalked toward his teammates, snatching the ball from them. He ignored their protests and roughly set the ball down on the grass, taking long strides toward the edge of the field. He pivoted on his heel to face the ball, eyeing it with such a fiery tenacity, bystanders could've sworn the temperature went up a few degrees. Natsu charged for the ball, cocking his foot back and swinging it forward.

His foot collided harshly with the ball, a dull _thunk_ echoing across the field as it took off like a rocket toward the sky. Natsu smirked, a smug aura permeating off of him as he and the other spectators watched the ball fly all the way across the field in a perfect arc, even going over the fence. The pride inside of him vanished instantly, though, when he saw a girl running straight into the ball's path. His eyes widened, his heart stopping for a few beats before his hands cupped around his mouth.

" _Heads up!_ " he shouted, hoping she would hear him. She didn't, and the ball struck the side of her head. She stumbled a couple steps before falling heavily to the ground. Natsu cringed deeply, along with Gray and the others. He ignored his teammates exclaiming " _ouch_ " and " _oooh_ ," his feet starting to run on their own as he sprinted toward his unintentional and unsuspecting victim.

* * *

 _What a beautiful day,_ Lucy thought to herself as she left the girls' locker room and into the fresh air. She smiled as she looked up at the sky, taking in the pure shade of blue. It was perfectly clear today, not a cloud in the sky. The only thing that was disrupting the serene calmness of the sky was the occasional bird. Although, she couldn't really say they were "disrupting" anything. If anything, they added a stronger sense of serenity.

She took a deep breath through her nose, enjoying the fresh air. The air felt so much cleaner in Magnolia than it did in Crocus. Not that it was dirty in Crocus, not by any means of the word. But Magnolia was a much smaller town, so she supposed it only made sense that it would feel cleaner here, fresher. She'd only been living in Magnolia for about a week, and she was already happy with the move. Everything about this town made her fall in love with it.

Snapping out of her reverie, Lucy remembered she needed to actually start her workout and put in her earbuds. Putting her music on shuffle, she began to jog down the steps of the bleachers, running a lap around the football field before going back up the steps. She loved the adrenaline. Running gave her just the rush she needed to be able to get through her day. There was just something about it that kept her addicted to the feeling. Her heart pumping, the burn in her legs, the light strain in her lungs. It was one of the best feelings in the world, in her opinion.

She took brief notice of the soccer team as she neared the field, taking a moment to admire each of the boys as they stretched. She hummed, turning her attention back to what was ahead of her. Maybe she should join a team? She did track and field while in Crocus, for obvious reasons, but maybe she should try something different? Now that she was living in a different town, she supposed that trying out for a different sport might be a good change in pace. Turning her head back toward the soccer team, she briefly considered trying out for the girl's team, but she scrapped the idea a second later. Soccer _did_ involve a lot of running, but she had always sucked at the sport. She was too much of a klutz, always tripping over her own feet, and the ball, and the other players' feet.

Not to mention that time in middle school when she and a boy in her gym class accidentally kicked each other in the shins when they went for the ball at the same time, leaving them both with blinding pain and a gnarly bruise each.

She clicked her tongue, her eyes refocusing on the path in front of her. Soccer was a definite _no_.

Perhaps she could try something of a slower pace? She was a decent swimmer, and in the week she'd been at Magnolia High, she'd made a friend who was on the swimming team. Juvia might be willing to teach her more about the different strokes and techniques she would need to know to be a valuable member of the team. Or maybe tennis? Or volleyball? A grin spread across her face at the thought. Volleyball might be good. She'd always been good at the sport.

 _I wonder if this school has a volleyball team?_ she pondered. She shook her head, shaking the thoughts out of her mind for the time being. _I'll think about this later._

Putting all of her focus into her run, completely oblivious to the ball that was now soaring through the sky, Lucy decided to just enjoy the scenery as well as her music as the songs transitioned. She grinned, singing along in her head. She didn't like to admit to people that she liked Miley Cyrus. She didn't know why, it didn't matter what other people thought of her taste in music. But in her defense, her music was more of a guilty pleasure, rather than something Lucy was passionate about. For a moment, she wished she was alone in her room so that she could belt out the words along with Miley, but she made do with just screaming it internally.

 _I came in like a wrecking ball!_

Then, as if on cue, she felt a very sudden, horrible pain on the side of her head, the wind being knocked out of her. She barely acknowledged the feeling of her body hitting the ground, and before she could decipher what was going on, everything went black.

* * *

 _Shit, shit, shit_ , Natsu thought as he all but kicked the gate of the fence open, tripping over his feet when he tried to get going again. He recovered swiftly, continuing his sprint toward the girl that still lay unconscious on the ground. He slid to a stop once he reached her, dropping to his knees. He gave the girl a gentle shake.

"Hey," he called softly, brushing her bangs to the side so that he could get a better look at her face. Her eyes weren't all the way closed, the impact most likely having caused her to pass out before her brain could send the message to close her eyes. The sight, along with the massive bump that was already forming on the side of her face, frightened him considerably. "Holy fuck, I killed her!"

"You didn't kill her, you moron," Gray scoffed, having followed him off the field, as well as a couple other members of the soccer team. "She's just out cold."

"What should I do?!" he shouted, panic beginning to set in the pit of his stomach.

"Take her to the nurse's office, numbskull! What do you think?!" Gray smacked him upside the head. "Get it together, man. Damn."

"Right. I'm okay." Natsu took a deep breath, running a hand through his hair and ruffling it a small bit in an attempt to quell his anxiety. "I'm okay." He turned to the blonde girl, carefully sliding one of his arms around her shoulders while the other one slid under her knees. He lifted her up, securing her in his arms and taking off in another sprint toward the main building. He pressed the handicapped button so the doors would open automatically, since both his hands were currently occupied at the moment. While he waited for the doors, he glanced down at the girl in his arms. She was quite beautiful, which made him feel worse for giving her such a gnarly bruise on the side of her face.

Not that he _wouldn't_ have felt awful for power-kicking a ball into anyone else's head, regardless if they were "beautiful" or not. But he had a feeling that her appearance might be important to her.

Feeling the guilt sink into his stomach like a hot ball of lead, he entered the building, turning so he wouldn't bash her head on the doorframe. He hurried toward the nurse's office, ignoring the teachers shouting at him about not running in the halls. Once he got to his destination, he lightly kicked the door a couple times since he couldn't knock, jolting when the door opened in one fluid motion, revealing an aged woman with light pink hair.

"Were you _kicking_ my door?" she snapped, giving him a glare that made his throat close up. "Have you no manners, Dragneel?!"

"I'm sorry, Porlyusica," he said, readjusting the girl in his arms, something that caught the nurse's attention. "But I couldn't use my hands." Porlyusica glanced back and forth between the two teenagers before releasing a sharp huff, stepping to the side to allow him entrance.

"What happened?"

Natsu stepped through the door, not flinching when she slammed it closed behind him. She never really liked visitors, so the slam was something that happened often. "I kicked a soccer ball into her head while practicing with my team," he explained, tenderly setting the girl on the bed. "Knocked her out cold."

"How careless, but not surprising," Porlyusica griped with a brief glare at Natsu, examining her face. The boy huffed, folding his arms.

"I didn't _mean_ to kick the ball into her face!" he said defensively. "It was an accident!" Porlyusica ignored Natsu's words, gently pulling the girl's eyelid down a smidge so her pupil was more visible, flashing a small light into her eye. When nothing appeared to be abnormal, she checked the other eye, humming when she got the same reaction. The boy watched with bated breath, worried about how much damage he'd caused this poor girl. He heaved a sigh of relief when the nurse spoke.

"She seems fine," Porlyusica murmured, putting the flashlight away. "Just a bump, a bruise at most. She'll probably have a killer headache when she wakes up, but that's to be expected after someone launches a soccer ball into someone else's head."

"I said it was an accident!" Natsu insisted, folding his arms with a huff while he took a seat beside the girl's bed. He grumbled under his breath. "If anything, I blame Gray. He was the only who dared me to kick the ball as hard as I could."

Porlyusica rolled her eyes, letting him know she'd heard him. "So childish." She traversed the room toward her desk. "What's this girl's name?"

"Uh," Natsu drawled, rubbing the back of his neck and taking a glance at the girl. At that moment, he realized he didn't even have an idea of who this girl was. He'd never seen her before. Was she new? She had to be, because he never forgot a face. "I, uh… I don't know."

Porlyusica exhaled sharply, irritated. "Of course. Well, I suppose we'll just have to wait until she wakes up." She locked her eyes with his, making him jerk at her harsh gaze. "You're staying here until she wakes up. You have to apologize to her."

"H-Hai," he stammered, shakily nodding his head. The nurse nodded curtly and turned back to her paperwork. Natsu bit back a scoff, turning his attention to a magazine that lay on a nearby shelf. He groaned under his breath, reaching for it and flipping it open. He didn't have his phone with him, having left it with his clothes in the locker room. He wasn't that much of a reader, especially in terms of magazines or newspapers, but it didn't look like he had very many options. He snuck a glance at the girl, another pang of guilt resonating in his chest.

 _She didn't have to tell me to stay,_ he thought, frowning deeply at much more defined the bump on her head had gotten. _I was already planning to do that anyway._

* * *

Lucy woke up feeling like she'd been hit by a bus. Her body was lead heavy, her mouth was the dryest it had ever been, and her _head_. Holy shit, the pain in her head was almost unbearable. She tried to open her eyes, but her eyelids were just as heavy as the rest of her body. Her mind was swimming, making her feel dizzy. Her head lulled to the side, a soft groan escaping her lips.

 _What… what happened?_

"Hello?" said an unknown source from beside her. She hazily registered the voice, trying to turn toward it, but she didn't get very far, her head falling back to its original position. There was a warm, gentle pressure on her arm, giving her a sense of stability amidst her dizziness, feeling anchored down so she wouldn't float away.

"Hey," the voice called again, giving her arm a small shake to try and rouse her from her sluggish state. The world spinning around her in protest, she finally turned her head toward the voice, her eyes struggling to open. Her surroundings were very blurry when she eventually got her eyes open, so she blinked a couple times in attempt to clear her head. The blob sitting in front of her slowly came into focus, her eyes connecting with a pair of warm, mildly concerned green ones. They seemed to relax once they recognized her gaze clearing up.

"How're you feeling?" the owner of those entrancing eyes asked her, his voice causing her head to swim even more, although for different reasons. Her brain had to work harder than it normally would have to process his words, slowly composing a response.

"Like…" she began, startled by how raspy her voice came out, but she continued nevertheless, "like I was kicked by a horse." She coughed, her words scraping against her dried throat like sandpaper. The person beside her must have understood, because he stood up and left her field of vision for a moment, coming back with a small paper cup filled with water. She watched him place a straw into the cup before holding it out to her.

"Here." Lucy didn't hesitate, taking the straw between her lips and sucking, gulping down the entire cup in one go. She released the straw with a sigh. "Better?" She nodded weakly, her eyes blinking slowly as she gathered her thoughts.

"Wh… what happened?" she inquired. She heard the man gulp as he lifted his hand to scratch at his scalp, ruffling his hair – which, she just noticed, was pink, the sight holding her attention for the time being. Her attention was brought back to his eyes when he let out a sigh.

"Um…" he stalled, his green green orbs flickering to just about anything in the room other than her. "You got hit on the head with a soccer ball, while you were running passed the field." Lucy blinked, memories of her jog coming back to her. When she didn't respond, he continued. "One of my teammates dared me to kick the ball as hard as I could, so I did. It kinda… flew into your head at max speed."

"You hit me with a soccer ball?" she repeated slowly, making sure she understood what he was saying. He mistook her attempt of clarifying for an accusation, squaring his shoulders in a defensive posture.

"It was an accident!" he shouted, causing her to jump at the sudden rise in volume. He was looking at his lap, guilt clearly written across his face. She frowned, believing he was being sincere, because why would he have done it on purpose? She opened her mouth to assure him she wasn't trying to accuse him, but he continued to speak before she could get a word in. "I-I-If you want someone to blame, blame Gray! He was the one that dared me to do it! If he wouldn't have challenged me, I wouldn't have kicked the ball into your face as hard as I could!"

Lucy blinked, annoyance starting to flare up in her chest. Was he actually blaming someone else for something _he_ did? He wasn't going to own up to it? He seemed pretty apologetic before that comment came out of his mouth, so now she didn't know what to think.

"Regardless of who dared you to do it, you still hurled a ball into my head!" she reminded him, her irritation giving her the strength to push herself up into a sitting position. He finally looked up at her when he noticed her movement, his eyes wide. She glared at him, a fire blazing in her dark coffee brown eyes, a fire that set another one off in his chest, his heart starting to race. He blinked, his cheeks starting to warm up, the sensation foreign to him. His heart never raced like this unless he was tussling with Gray, or when he was on the field. So why was it beating this fast now, while a girl he didn't know was looking at him like _that?_ Her eyes were so dark and warm, the fire inside giving them a gleaming light he'd never seen anyone else possess.

No one other than himself, anyway.

"–was still _you_ that hit me!" she shouted, making him jolt back to reality. The blush on his face darkened a shade or two. He hadn't realized he'd been tuned out of what she was saying. He cleared his throat, forcing himself to match her glare to play it off. Now was not the time to be wondering about these unfamiliar feelings.

"I know it was!" he shouted back, standing up. "That's why I've been waiting here for two hours for you to wake up so that I could apologize to you!"

Lucy's expression changed, her eyebrows unfurrowing and her lips dropping the pout. He had waited with her for _two hours_ instead of going home? It was her turn to blush, feeling foolish for having blown up on him the way she did.

"You did?" she squeaked, her hands instinctively coming together in her lap to fidget. The boy nodded, folding his arms across his chest.

"Yeah. I mean," he paused to chuckle, idly scratching his jaw, "I hit you with a soccer ball, knocked you out cold, and gave you a giant bump on your temple. I feel pretty shitty about it. You'd have to be a whole new kind of dick to not apologize, make sure you were okay." They fell into a moment of silence, only being broken when Natsu chuckled louder. "You gotta admit though, I hit you in the head from over the fence and all the way across the field. I got some awesome aim." Lucy giggled a little as well, feeling her head twinge now that he mentioned the bruise. She swallowed, lifting a hand to touch the bump, hissing when her fingers made contact.

"How bad does it look?" she asked him. Natsu cringed, giving a light shrug of his shoulders.

"Could be worse," he answered honestly, tilting his head to get a better look. "But it doesn't look that bad. Just a little purple. With how hard you went down, I would've expected it to be a lot worse." He offered her a smile. "But it doesn't look that bad."

She returned the smile, appreciating his honesty. Taking notice that she was in the nurse's office at school, she took a gander around the room as if looking for something.

"Where's the nurse?"

"Ah, she left for the day. Said she had something important to get to and couldn't afford to be late for. She said she wants you to visit her office tomorrow morning, though." Lucy nodded, looking up at the clock.

"I need to get home," she sighed, gradually lowering her legs off the side of the bed. "My phone is in my locker, and my dad's probably going crazy right now." She tried to stand, but got lightheaded as soon as she straightened up. Her body swayed, but Natsu stepped up to catch her before she could fall over. Her face exploded into a deep red when she fell against his warm, sturdy chest, her arms automatically grabbing his sides to brace herself. She swallowed the lump in her throat, her hands feeling how strong his torso was through his soccer jersey. Her hands lingered on his waist until she caught herself, blushing even deeper as she gently pulled away, standing up on her own. She avoided his eyes, knowing painfully well that he could see just how red her cheeks were.

"S-Sorry," she stammered, clearing her throat. Natsu only chuckled, shaking his head as he kept his hands on her shoulders, making sure she was steady before dropping them.

"No problem," he hummed, amused. He waited for her to face him again before holding his hand out to her. "I'm Natsu." The blonde gulped as she glanced at his hand, stealing a glimpse of his face a moment later. She placed her hand in his, giving it a shake.

"Lucy," she said with a shy smile.

"Nice to meet you, Lucy."

She mentally cursed herself for blushing again, hating the way he said her name, but loving it at the same time. "It's nice to meet you, too." He grinned wider, following her out of the room and closing the door behind them, hearing it lock like Porlyusica said it would. He walked beside her as she started her trek back to the gym to retrieve her clothes.

"Why're you following me?" she inquired timidly.

He chuckled. "I need to grab my clothes too," he mused. "I don't live in my jersey, y'know." She giggled, and he grinned, his heart thrumming at the sound. They walked in comfortable silence, Natsu clearing his throat to try and get her attention as they neared the gymnasium. He waited to speak until she turned her eyes onto him. "Uh, look. I still feel like shit for what happened. I wanna make it up to you. Anything you want."

Lucy grinned, shaking her head. "Natsu, you don't have to–"

"I do, though," he cut her off. "I do need to. Because otherwise, my conscience will eat at me for the rest of my life." They both chuckled at his dramatic logic. He lightly bumped her shoulder. "So come on. Anything you want, I'll do it."

Lucy lifted a dainty eyebrow, a mischievous smirk dancing on her lips. _"Anything?"_

He nodded resolutely, unfazed by the gleam in her eyes. _Mostly._ "Anything."

Lucy hummed as she thought about what she could have him do. A few things came to mind, some ideas bolder than others, so she decided to start off with something easy. "I get a front-row seat to every single one of your games." Natsu chuckled, preparing himself to tell her that she could sit wherever she wanted at his soccer games, since the seats weren't assigned, but she beat him to the punch. "And don't say I can sit wherever I want. I want a _reserved_ seat, in a spot where I can see the most action on the field." She gave him a silly grin, one that he returned.

"Alright. Fine. You got it, _Princess_."

She playfully swatted his arm before continuing. "I get automatic dibs on your dessert at lunch every day for…" she paused to think over the sentence, "two months."

Natsu pouted, thinking about all the cookies and muffins he won't be able to eat at lunch for the next two months. He was about to protest, but he remembered he said he would do anything to make up for knocking her out with a soccer ball to the head. So he reluctantly agreed. "Fine," he groaned, smiling nonetheless. "I _guess_ I can live with that. Anything else?"

"Yes," Lucy confirmed with a nod. She swallowed, a light flush blossoming on her cheeks as she prepared herself to be bolder than she normally was. He said _anything_ she wanted, and this was what she wanted. "You have to take me to dinner on Saturday." Natsu blinked and jolted, caught off guard. She instantly noticed his shocked expression, making her blush even harder. "I-It doesn't have to be anywhere fancy, and it doesn't have to be a…" she cleared her throat before continuing, "a date. Just… dinner, this Saturday."

Natsu processed her request, feeling a blush of his own starting to bloom on his cheeks. He'd never taken a girl to dinner before. Hell, he'd never taken a girl on any sort of date before. He never really wanted to. But _this_ girl… he didn't seem to mind treating her to some dinner. In fact, he kind of wanted to. If she hadn't have mentioned it, he probably would've, eventually. It actually sounded kind of nice. He gulped, subconsciously lifting a hand to scratch the back of his neck.

"Uh… can it?" he asked, immediately clarifying when he saw confusion flash in her eyes. "You said it didn't have to be a date. But… can it? I mean, would it be alright if it was? A date."

Lucy's eyes widened, her blush extending down her neck and to her ears. She didn't have to think about it, a shy grin spreading across her lips. "Sure. If you want."

He gave her a blinding grin, excitement bubbling in his chest. "Sweet. It's a date then." They both laughed a bit, before he gave her a light, silly bump with his hip. "Is there anything else?"

She giggled and shook her head. "Nope. Front row seats to all your games, dibs on your dessert for two months, and dinner this Saturday. That's the least you can do."

He laughed. "Alright. I can do that."

* * *

 **Author's Note: hey, guys! So much for that "new chapter for each of my stories this month" thing, eh? That's what happens when a family member comes to stay with you with like a week's notice. *sweatdrop* The new chapter for "Things Change" and "Ardor" _are_ on their way, though! So either by the end of this month or the beginning of February, so stay tuned!  
**

 **Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. It was a bit shorter than the previous ones, but I hope you liked it regardless. Let me know in a review! Love you guys, see you next time!**


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